In ancient Egypt, every year starts anew with the Arrival of Hapi, or the Flooding of the Nile. It's a joyful occasion marked by feasting, dancing, music and liberal libations for all.
In June, the river Nile is at its lowest point. The land seems to die away. Then the Dog Star rises and as if by some great miracle a deluge of water approaches from the south.
Torrential rains in Ethiopia, bringing nutrient rich silt down from the highlands, can raise the Nile up to 13.7 m (45 ft) in a short time. By July the great river is swollen. The two-week holiday celebration Wafaa-El-Nil (Flooding of the Nile) begins in the middle of August.
Hapi is considered a unifying and creative force. He's an androgynous or dual-sex fertility god with both male and female characteristics.
Although Hapi is referred to as a male god, he's presented as a dual-sex deity, with female fertility features such as full pendulous breasts and a large belly.
Feminine features represent pregnancy or abundance. In Egyptian hieroglyphs he's referred to as an intersex entity.
Sometimes he's fat, like the Buddha, a sign of prosperity. In the stone carving below, he's shown with love handles. In ancient depictions Hapi is often portrayed as two gods, himself and a mirror image.
Hapi's titles include "Lord of the Fish and Birds of the Marshes" and "Lord of the River Bringing Vegetation". He wears a loincloth and false beard. With one exception, Hatshepsut, the false beard is a male ornament.
Hapi might have blue or green skin representing water and vegetation. In Lower Egypt Hapi wears papyrus, a vital reed in Egypt, and is attended by frogs. In Upper Egypt his associations are the lotus and crocodile.
He's sometimes pictured as two figures uniting Upper and Lower Egypt with a papyrus rope as below. The rope loops approximate the shape of ankh. His crown includes stalks of papyrus and/or lotus.
When Wafaa-El-Nil is over in mid August it's time to get to work. The floods leave fertile silt deposits, cultivated by the Egyptians with such techniques as basin irrigation. Sowing and planting begins right after the festival.
The Wepet Renpet or 'opening of the New Year' festival falls on September 11, dictated by the position of the Dog Star. Location of the festival itself varies as it takes routes determined by the inundation of flood water.
Hapi is often celebrated along with Osiris and the frog goddess Heqet, whose vitality is greatest in the last flood phases. This is when tadpoles mature. As frogs indicate environmental health, plentiful frogs is a sign of a strong healthy land.
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